The Last Party

One by one, each of Lilly's friends move away to fulfill their dreams and aspirations. Lilly feels they are all doing this as a sign of betrayal. Little does Lilly know that the truth is far from betrayal.

5. Sadness

Lilly looked around her room. Most of the pink wallpaper had been chipped and torn away, leaving only scraps punctuated with small holes in the walls. It had looked like a war had been won and lost in her room, and she was on the losing side. Her eyes fell upon the picture of her friends, hanging lopsided on the wall, the frame’s glass smashed. Chloe’s, Amber’s, Jade’s and Millie’s heads had been torn out, leaving only holes, Lilly’s way of cutting them from her life. She sighed and looked upon the smiling face of her last friend. The only one that remained. Rose. I would’ve expected her to be the first one to leave... Life works in funny ways, Lilly thought. But no, it had to be that traitorous liar! Followed by worthless Millie , then that other even-more-worthless gymnast right after. Then that no-good farmer! I’m glad they all left, they weren’t true friends at all! All those parties I wasted on them, when I should’ve been doing them for my real friend, Rose! She’ll never leave me. Never, ever, ever! She’ll always be here for me! A loud rapping reached from the door, an echo filled the now silent and mournful home.

“This... is getting awfully familiar. Every time I enter in deep thoughts about the people I once considered a friends, there’s a knock on the door!” Lilly said aloud, holding her hand to her chin, as if in deep thought. “Oh well, let’s go see if they’re customers!” She opened her bedroom door and bounced down the stairs, to see an ever-familiar mail man.

He reached into his bag, and pulled out a letter. “Delivery!” he exclaimed, the envelope slurring his speech.

Lilly took the letter and waved to him, who happily repeated the gesture, before walking off to deliver more mail. Lilly looked at the return address. “Let’s see... east countryside? It’s from... Amber? Why would that worthless girl send me a letter?” She ripped open the envelope and began to read.

Dear Lilly,

I’m writing to say I’m sorry about the argument we got into before I left. I never should’ve done that without considering your feelings, and I feel awfully terrible about it. I hope we can continue to be friends, and put this behind us! I mean, we sure did have some good times growing up with the rest of our frie-

Lilly crumpled the letter and threw it at the wall. What does Amber know about friends? She’s too... trusting for her own good. But I can see them for who they really are! Oh yes, they’re all....UGH! Who couldn’t care less about Lilly! Even after all I’ve done for them! She started weeping softly. She reached out and pulled the bakery’s front door closed, sliding the latch to lock it. Then slowly, she began her ascent back up the stairs to her war-torn battleground of a room.

“I’m just going to... close the store for today. Nobody will care if they have to go without cakes and pies for a day... or two."

“Yeah... Nobody will mind.” With a jump, she landed on her bed, one of the few relics left intact in the room. “It’s a day... for sleeping.” She rested her face on the pillow, already soaked from her tears, and laid there waiting for sleep to take her in its grasp.

Lilly opened her eyes to see a tall red barn standing in front of her. “Is... this a dream?” she asked aloud. A Chloe shaped blur shot past, before settling down in front of her.

“Lilly! How’s my best friend doing?” Chloe asked. She opened the barn door with a push, and gestured her inside. “Come on in, I got something to show you!”

Lilly followed her into the barn, to see all of her friends waiting there with party hats on.

“Lilly! We’re so glad you could make it to your party!” Jade said, beaming. “Come look at your cake, we had it made specially for you!”

Lilly slowly walked over to the cake, before a spotlight appeared on it, making the words perfectly legible. “‘Lilly’s Going Away Party?’ Is this some sort of prank, you guys? Because this really isn’t funny...”

“Oh, darling, it’s not a prank! We’re throwing you a ‘Get Lost’ party!” Rose chimed in, appearing from the shadows of the barn.

“Why would you be doing this to me? I thought we were friends?” Lilly asked, horror and despair creeping into her voice.

“Friends? Friends with the likes a’ you? Ah’m sorry, but you were never our friend to begin with!” Amber stated with a smirk, standing next to Rose.

“Yeah, Lilly. I mean, you’re just not cool enough to hang with us!” Chloe said through her cold smile, appearing right beside Amber.

“The only reason we pretended to be your friend was so that we could have a good laugh. I mean everyone needs a good laugh every now and then, am I right?!” Jade said, placing herself beside Chloe.

“Yeah! And we never liked your parties, either!” Millie stated, before taking her spot next to Jade.

“Even you, Millie? Come on guys... this isn’t funny! Please tell me this is just a joke! Just a terrible, horrible prank!” Lilly pleaded.

Chloe walked beside her, before smacking Pinkie in the back of the head. “I told you, we’re not your friends! Now get lost, and don’t ever come back!”

Lilly stared at Chloe for a moment, before turning around and running out of the barn. Sudden wetness flooded her eyes. With tears dripping off her face, she ran. She had no idea where she was running to, and she didn’t care. Anywhere was better then back at the barn. But it didn’t matter how far she ran, the voices of the people she’d thought were her friends were following her, keeping pace, merging into one raspy voice that hit her from every angle.

“Keep on running!”

“Nobody wants to be your friend!”

“Your parties are lame!”

“You are lame!”

“Your friends all abandoned you!”

“Nobody likes you!”

“The worst friend ever!”

“Leave. Me. Alone!” Lilly yelled, shooting up in her bed. She blinked, gasping and trembling. She looked around her bedroom. Another tear came to her eyes at the realization. “It was just a dream, but what kind of dream was that? I’ve never been so scared of... any dream before in my life!” she whispered to herself. She looked at her bedside clock, slightly dented from where she’d thrown it at the wall, but still ticking. She’d only been asleep for half an hour. With a sigh, she got out of her bed and headed downstairs. I wonder,” she thought aloud as she trotted down the staircase, “why was Rose in that dream? My bestest friend Rose would never join those... those....” she dimly exclaimed, before taking her place behind the counter, humming a tune to start off the afternoon.